A new chapter in SVSU athletics will begin in spring 2027, when women’s flag football takes the field as the university’s newest varsity sport.
Even though the team is starting fresh, head coach Amber Clark-Robinson has ample experience under her belt. She previously coached two seasons at the University of Saint Mary, and she also has played at the professional level. She played defensive back for the US Women’s Flag Football National Team and helped them bring home four medals.
Clark-Robinson has already begun sending offers to prospective athletes from all over the country. On top of that, she even has a few players committed to the team, two of them coming from the University of Saint Mary.
T’liyah Wright, an athlete coming from the University of Saint Mary, talked about some of the most important qualities of athletes coming onto the team, as well as why she wanted to come to SVSU.
“[The most important qualities this first group of players should have is] being able to be coachable, open-minded, and give 100 percent in everything they do,” she continued. “ [I] wanted to start a program at a new school and showcase my skills at a next level.”
Trinity Scott, an athlete committed to the team from the University of St. Mary, commented on the growth of women’s flag football.
“Women’s flag football is expanding and growing opportunities for women athletes down to the athletic trainers who support the team that are women aspiring in a career, all the way to the head coaches led by groundbreaking women.”
SVSU is not the only school that is adding women’s flag football as a varsity sport, as the NCAA recognized it as an emerging sport for women, according to an ESPN article.
“Flag football has been added to the NCAA’s Emerging Sports for Women program and four other women’s sports were elevated to championship status, the NCAA announced Friday,” they stated. “Flag football has been one of the fastest-growing sports at the youth, high school and collegiate levels and will debut as an Olympic sport for men and women in 2028.”
As women’s flag football begins to make a name for itself in the sports world, Scott believes that anything in this world is possible if one puts their mind to it.
“To anyone who thinks about the impossible, about things they never thought [could be] real,” she continued, “welcome to women’s flag football because we do the impossible at every high stage available and still opening. So remember: you can do anything impossible or never thought to be real.”
Spend Valentine’s Day with your true love, SVSU’s club hockey team, when they host their rival Northwood University in a special event at the Dow Event Center on Feb. 14.
Both SVSU and Northwood students will get free entry into the Mid-Michigan Meltdown. Non-students will pay an entrance fee of $10 at the door. Doors to the Dow Event Center will open at 1 pm with puck drop slated for 2:30 pm. Alcohol and concessions will be sold throughout the game.
A trophy will be presented to the winner immediately following the game.
Before the Mid-Michigan Meltdown, the Cardinals and the Timberwolves will face off against each other at Midland Civic Arena on Feb. 13.
Hockey e-board President Brendan Cobb spoke about playoff implications in the upcoming games against Northwood.
“If we don’t win one of the games this weekend, we leave the door open for Western Michigan to take third place [in the division] and we’d have to play Northwood first round in playoffs rather than the University of Toledo.”
On the week of Feb. 6, SVSU played two games against divisional opponent Western Michigan University. That same weekend, Northwood University swept divisional opponent Oakland University, clinching the Great Lakes Collegiate Hockey League Championship and finishing 10-0 in the division ahead of their games against SVSU.
“Nothing is guaranteed when there’s so many things on the line,” said Cobb. “We are going to embrace the underdog mentality and put them to the test this weekend and if we play them in playoffs as well.”
Cobb stated the reason the team is taking the rivalry with Northwood to the next level this season is because they lost matchups with former rivals GVSU and Lawrence Tech when SVSU transitioned from D3 to D1 last year.
“It was super convenient for us to keep Northwood as a rival, especially with how close they are to us, and our other sports are also huge rivals with them as well.”
Sophomore goaltender Nick Pike commented on the heated rivalry between the Cardinals and the Timberwolves.
“We need to find a way to set the tone for the games and the playoffs … Our rivalry with Northwood goes pretty deep. We’ve always viewed them as the rich kids across town that think they’re all that just because they have everything handed to them. This weekend is going to be a great opportunity for us to prove that we are a dangerous team and we’re hard to play against.”
“Us having that blue collar mentality is really what we want to embrace. We have to work for everything we want because we don’t have all of the things that they have such as free gear, being fully funded, then having the ability to persuade those insanely good talents that they have to go there,” spoke Cobb of the rivalry. “We want to host this event because the Dow is Saginaw’s rink. It’s like a second home for us.”
Pike also spoke on the event taking place at the Dow Event Center.
“I feel like it’s a chance for us to just show what we’re made of and what we have.”
SVSU will play their final regular season games on Feb. 13 at Midland Civic Arena vs Northwood University and Feb. 14 at the Mid-Michigan Meltdown at Dow Event Center vs Northwood University.
Abdullah Farooqui